Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said Monday that if the economy meets his expectations, he’d like to see the central bank continue to wind down its bond-buying stimulus effort over the coming months.

Noting the economy looks to grow smartly in 2014, Mr. Lockhart said “if the positive outlook I’ve outlined plays out, I would support similar tapering steps over the course of this year.” He was referring to widespread expectations that the central bank will continue to cut the monthly pace of bond buying as the year progresses. In December, the Fed took the first step along this path when it cut the pace of purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion.

The official told reporters after his speech that it’s “a reasonable assumption” to expect more cuts of $10 billion per month at future central bank meetings, so long as the economy performs as expected.

The question of whether the Fed would continue to trim asset buying was called into question on Friday. The government reported surprisingly tepid December job gains and a drop in the unemployment rate that owed some of its seeming improvement to workers dropping out of the labor force. Many analysts expect the Fed to continue its gradual and steady pace of cuts in asset buying, but if coming months’ data is also weak, that could call into question how strong the recovery is.

Mr. Lockhart told reporters what happened in the job market last month has not shaken his monetary policy outlook. “I don’t think we should overreact to one month” and should bear in mind employment data frequently undergoes notable revisions, he said.

The policymaker also told reporters that the rapid drop in the jobless rate is creating a problem for how monetary policy is explained. The Fed says that it will not raise short term interest rates until the jobless rate falls well under 6.5% so long as inflation remains contained. Mr. Lockhart said the fast approach to that level–unemployment was at 6.7% in December, from 7% the prior month– threatens to complicate the central bank’s message.

Rate hike guidance was supposed to be “easy” to understand, but given what’s happening, it will now require central bankers to have to explain more why they aren’t raising rates when the threshold is crossed, Mr. Lockhart said. He noted the Fed may need to revisit the guidance and refine it to deal with the current “challenges in communications,” and that may mean the central bank may need to make the jobless threshold less connected to the jobless rate.

Mr. Lockhart, who is often viewed as a centrist among central bankers and a bellwether for the likely path of monetary policy, said in his formal remarks to an audience in Atlanta the central bank is not on autopilot when it comes to winding down its bond buying program. The Fed “will assess how things are going, economically speaking, at each meeting, and decide on the next step.”

He also said current Fed policy is “very accommodative” and “appropriately so.” Mr. Lockhart is not currently a voting member of the monetary-policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee. He next has a vote in 2015.

The official took a cautious view about recent labor market developments. He noted “it’s reasonable to expect further progress on the employment front,” but added, “while we’ve made substantial progress, we are far from a satisfactory situation.” Mr. Lockhart described the December jobs reading as “surprisingly soft.”

The central banker noted that the seemingly rapid improvement in the unemployment rate likely overstates the health of the labor market.

Mr. Lockhart also worried about the continuation of inflation that stands well below the Fed’s 2% target. He said he expects prices to move back towards the Fed’s goal in large part because inflation expectations have remained stable.

Even as the official remained worried about the labor market and inflation, he said he is more upbeat about the current year’s expected path of growth. “We are entering this year on a more solid economic footing” and “I think the weight of uncertainty holding back the economy has diminished,” Mr. Lockhart said.

The central banker said he expects to see growth of 2.5% to 3% in 2014, and added, “I would not be surprised if we achieve results at the upper end of this range.” Mr. Lockhart pointed to reduced uncertainty created by the government, as well as a rebounding housing market and improved prospects in the corporate sector.

In response to audience questions, Mr. Lockhart rejected the idea that big gains in stock prices over the course of the last year mean the equities market has lost its moorings. When taking stock of what has happened, “I don’t see it as a bubble,” the official said, although he added he would like to see company earnings validate the advances the market has experienced. The official also said “we are watching very carefully to make sure we don’t get into bubble territory.”

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